Books and Literature

News about Books and Literature, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 31, 2015

Michiko Kakutani reviews book The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy by Masha Gessen. MORE

Mar. 31, 2015

Dr Abigail Zuger reviews books The Chimp and the River: How AIDS Emerged From an African Forest by Douglas Quammen and Voices in the Band: A Doctor, Her Patients, and How the Outlook on AIDS Care Changed From Doomed to Hopeful by Dr Susan C Ball. MORE

Mar. 30, 2015

Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford's hand-drawn coloring books for adults have become global best-sellers; Secret Garden, with black-and-white ink drawings of flowers, leaves, trees and birds has sold more than 1.4 million copies in 22 languages; adults find coloring the drawings relaxing; major publishers are jumping on trend. MORE

Mar. 30, 2015

Janet Maslin reviews book So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. MORE

Mar. 28, 2015

Excerpt from Carl Richards book The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money suggests better way to plan for financial future is to embrace certain degree of uncertainty; makes case for determining values that are important and then aligning financial goals with those values. MORE

Mar. 27, 2015

Dwight Garner reviews book The American People, Volume 1: Search for My Heart by Larry Kramer. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

Janet Maslin reviews biography Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart Into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

Profile of Matthew Crawford, political philosopher turned mechanic whose new book The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction focuses on how the mind is both expanded and fragmented by technology. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

HarperCollins releases new information on Harper Lee's upcoming novel, Go Set a Watchman, including book's cover image. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

John Williams reviews books Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera, Small Mercies by Eddie Joyce, The Last Word by Hanif Kureishi, Crow Fair: Stories by Thomas McGuane, Night at the Fiestas: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade and John the Pupil by David Flusfeder. MORE

Mar. 25, 2015

Dwight Garner reviews book There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction by Saul Bellow. MORE

Mar. 24, 2015

Michiko Kakutani reviews book The Harder They Come by T Coraghessan Boyle. MORE

Mar. 24, 2015

Kenneth W Ford, physicist who helped design atom bomb in 1950s, has refused to cut what government says are sensitive details from his book Building the H Bomb: A Personal History; Ford points out that many of book's descriptions have been divulged elsewhere, resulting in gray area of information that is sensitive but not technically classified. MORE

Mar. 24, 2015

Emily Anthes reviews book The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth's Rarest Creatures by William deBuys. MORE

Mar. 23, 2015

Book The Contender, Michael Shnayerson's new unauthorized biography of New York Gov Andrew M Cuomo, casts its subject as control-obsessed politician with little tolerance for criticism or retail politics; portrayal contradicts largely positive narrative established by Cuomo in autobiography All Things Possible. MORE